Forum to mull stepping up Sino-Russian trade/econ cooperation.

BEIJING, June 23 (Itar-Tass) - Finding ways to step up trade and
economic cooperation between Russia and China in Eurasian space will
become one of the main themes of the Eurasian economic forum which China
will host this autumn, the forum's Secretary General Zhan Deguan told a
news conference here on Thursday.
"The Eurasian Economic Forum, whose main participants are the
member-states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an important
floor to discuss interaction between countries of the region in
integration and determin the priority guidelines for multi-party
cooperation," Zhan Deguan told Itar-Tass.
"The forum will pay much attention to working out innovative models of
Russian-Chinese cooperation in finance, power generation, culture,
education and tourism.
"The Russian Federation is a leading SCO member, and our forum was
established within the framework of this organization, so Russian
participation is essential for its effective functioning," he said.
Zhan Deguan noted that the participants in the forum would consider
the proposals brought forward by the leaders of the SCO member-states at
the jubilee summit of the organization which took place in Astana,
Kazakhstan, in mid-June.
Among the proposals is quick building of cooperation mechanism in
energy, financial and food security, as well as in the field of health
care.
"Due to the accelerating transformation of economic models of
different countries of the world, the participants in the forum will
consider new ways of cooperation in Eurasia, which will have a positive
influence on strengthening bilateral and multi-party cooperation in the
region," the Chinese official underlined.
The Eurasian Economic Forum, founded by the SCO member-states as a
platform of economic cooperation between Asian and European countries, is
held every other year in the town of Sian, the administrative center of
the northwestern Chinese province of Shansi. The first such forum was held
in 2005.
The main organizers are the SCO Secretariat, the SCO Business Council,
the UN development program, the Secretariat of the Eurasian Economic
Community, the Chinese trade ministry and a number of large Chinese banks.